Based on the premise that the true Home of the Groove, at least on the North American landmass, is the irreplaceable musical and cultural nexus, New Orleans, Louisiana and environs, this audioblog features rare, hard to find, often forgotten, vintage New Orleans-related R&B and funk records with commentary. Some general knowledge of N.O. music is helpful here, but not required to get your groove on.

About Me

I currently host a weekly show, "Funkify Your Life", on KRVS 88.7 FM in Lafayette which includes music covered on HOTG and more. You can listen-in live Thursdays at 1:00 PM or to the rebroadcast Fridays at 9:00 PM, or via podcasts at the station website . I am a former resident of Memphis, TN, where I did a weekly radio show called "New Orleans: Under the Influence" from 1988 to 2004 on WEVL 89.9 FM. I've been collecting and researching this kind of music (& others) even longer.

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QUOTES OF NOTE:
"New Orleans is of such key importance to American music because historical factors combined to make it the strongest center of
African musical practice in the United States, and, cliches aside, that practice really did travel up the Mississippi and did
spread overland." - Ned Sublette, from Cuba And Its Music

"I heard a group called Huey Smith & the Clowns, out of New Orleans. Now this is where funk was really created! That's where funk originated....
I couldn't understand how to do it, so this drummer from Huey Smith's band [Hungry Williams] showed me how to play [it]." - Clayton Fillyau,
drummer for Etta James and James Brown, on the origins of the 'James Brown Beat', in The Great Drummers Of R&B, Funk & Soul, interviewed by Jim Payne.

"A lot of those New Orleans drummers would come through, and I got a lot of stuff from those guys....Tenoo [Coleman] was...as funky as any of them.....
I learned some of that funk by listening to Tenoo." - John 'Jabo'Starks, drummer for Bobby Bland and James Brown, to Jim Payne as above.

"At the risk of sounding egotistical, a lot of the broken up stuff that these guys are playing now stems from the stuff that I had started doing." -
Earl Palmer, on his early days drumming with Dave Bartholomew's band, to Jim Payne, as above.

"With funk, it's almost more what you don't play than what you do play. I like those long silences between riffs,
I like the empty spaces. Those empty spaces, when you stop and let the groove wash all over you, make the
difference between fake funk and real funk." -Art Neville in The Brothers Neville

"Thank the good Lord for the funk musicians." -Jon Cleary ("Pin Your Spin")

"Without New Orleans, there would be no America." -Keith Frazier, Rebirth Brass Band, 2005.

"....don't be fooled. This city is deeply wounded. I'd say it's like an amputee
with phantom memory." -David Freedman, WWOZ, post-Katrina.

"If there was no New Orleans, America would just be a bunch of free people dying of boredom."
-Judy Deck, in an e-mail to Chris Rose at the Times-Picayune

"I'm not finished!" - Wardell Quezergue's final comment of the night after accepting the 2008 Best of the Beat
Lifetime Achievement In Music Award from Offbeat

"I discovered New Orleans along the way, and that made a big difference - It loosened me up." - Richie Hayward, the late drummer for Little Feat.

July 18, 2006

Back To Louisiana Purchase

"Don't Turn Your Back" (Terry Manuel)Louisiana Purchase, from Louisiana Purchase, Basin Street Records, 198? In the year sincemy last post-up on Louisiana Purchase, a little known New Orleans soul/funk outfit that only had this one LP and a couple of singles during their run, I haven't learned much more about them [see below* for an update]. I think they probably played more on the road than they did at home. Several months back, I finally found a mint copy of the album, likely recorded at least in part in New Orleans, and have been listening to it off and on since, having in mind to post something from it. Then, as has been happening all too often lately, the recent death of one of the members, vocalist Donald Whitlow, moved the piece up toward the front of the line.

I had received e-mails about Mr. Whitlow’s passing from his daughter and son. His son told me that one of the most popular tunes his father sang was “Baby’s Love” from this album, which had been played on WYLD in New Orleans. While I find that song to be a very well-done piece of deep soul and one of the record’s stand-out tracks, my mission here has lead me to chose the more uptempo and funkified groove of “Don’t Turn Your Back”, sung I am guessing by its composer, keyboardist Terry Manuel. Manuel may be familiar to at least some of you way into the New Orleans scene as a member of the Neville Brothers band during the mid-1990’s and of Cyril Neville’s side project,the Uptown Allstars, around the same period. Of the eight tracks on the LP, Mr. Manuel wrote three of the strongest, the others besides our feature track being the down-tempo but intense “When You’re Not There” and another highly percussive groover, “Can’t Get Your Love”.

While I may be old school in my tastes for funk/soul/R&B, I don’t automatically shy away from ‘urban contemporary’ and funk using synths (although, I am not at all a fan of programmed drums), if used tastefully and tastily. This undated album (I am guessing early to mid-1980’s) is so well recorded, arranged and performed that I can overlook the gear involved, the ultra-slick, highly processed sound they went for, and some of the more hokey spoken word production elements. The LP’s song selection is nicely balanced, too, with ballads, mid-tempo grooves, and out and out dancers. Of course, “Don’t Turn Your Back” the lead-off track, is definitely among the latter. It just feels good; and I find myself hitting repeat often after the fade. Guess it’s the fantastic drumming of Brennan Williams that is the basis for it all. He kicks ass and takes names, breaking up the beat with syncopated abandon. Meanwhile, the other instrumentation seamlessly integrates, the keyboards, synth bass, guitar and precision horns layering intricate, interlocking patterns. It’s a masters class in the art of tight arrangement; and the sound and style probably owe a lot to the Maurice White/Earth Wind and Fire school of the groove.

As my friend and frequent contributor, Dwight Richard, has pointed out, like his band of roughly the same era, Chocolate Milk, Louisiana Purchase was shooting for the national charts with their sound and approach. You don’t hear this record and think New Orleans; but the quality of the performers and the funky, if polished, underpinnings bespeak a source where the talent pool is deep and standards are naturally high. This nine-piece band had four lead singers, two of whom played instruments as well. You can see them listed at my previous post on the band linked above. Also, see Dwight’s comments there on the background of Louisiana Purchase. I will just add that one of the other singers, Arthur Booker, may be the same guy who did a duet with James Booker (as Arthur and Booker) for Chess back in the Fifties. I hope to find out more about the career of Donald Whitlow, too, later on.

Finally, note that the Basin Street Records label for this album was Chicago-based and has nothing to do with the outstanding contemporary New Orleans labelof the same name started in 1997. I guess this recording was released just before CDs totally nudged out vinyl. If the masters are still available, it would be a worthy candidate for digital reissue. Maybe that would spark a rediscovery of this largely unknown group of great players who, as Dwight said, “definitely added to the musical legacy of New Orleans funk.”

[Update 4/20/2007 - I've learned from Mr. Whitlow's daughter that the band has a new CD and a website now. ]

Thanks Mr. Phillips for your continued support for Louisiana Purcahse. I have a few things from the Services I will email you. They posted a write up from 1986 and gave everyone copies. I think you will find these things interesting. Please email me and let me know how I can get a copy of the album.